A-Z Database
see Close call
No one knows who coined this familiar expression for failure to achieve something or other in time. It is first cited from the early 19th century and...
see On one’s plate
The notion of keeping balls in the air derives from juggling. Keeping a number of balls in the air expertly is obviously skilful but trying to keep to...
This American expression dates from the late 1940s and describes a top-heavy organisation in terms of too much management and a shortage of people who...
When too many people are involved in a project, the results can be disastrous. This was already an old proverb by the time it was first cited in the 1...
A slang metaphor that originated in the US, and is used to describe someone who is extremely poor or penniless. It dates from the 1930s when most peop...
British informal expressions meaning goodbye that were popular at the turn of the 19th/20th century and may have given rise to the salutary greeting p...
see Take a bath
see Taken aback
A toothless tiger is an empty threat or an aggressive but harmless person. The expression dates in this sense from the mid-20th century and means the...
Top banana means the best in the field, an expert, or it can mean the highest executive or boss in an organisation. It is an Americanism that dates fr...
see Brass hat
First class, the very best, dates from the early 20th century from the custom that one’s best finery, clothes, valuables, etc are usually kept in the...
First-rate, outstanding, excellent, dates from the late 18th/early 19th century and derives from various games, cribbage etc, where scores were kept o...